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Saturday, December 28, 2013

Sibbach v. Wilson & Co. case brief

Sibbach v. Wilson & Co. case brief summary
312 U.S. 1 (1941)

CASE SYNOPSIS

Certiorari was granted to the United
States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit to review the
affirmance of an order adjudging petitioner, who brought action to
recover damages for bodily injuries, guilty of contempt when she did
not comply with an order to submit to a physical exam.

CASE FACTSRespondent moved for an order requiring
petitioner to submit to a physical exam. When petitioner did not
comply, the district court adjudged petitioner guilty of contempt.
The court of appeals affirmed.

DISCUSSION

The Supreme Court reversed the
judgment.

The Court held that Fed. R. Civ. P. 35 and 37,
relating to mental and physical examinations and to refusal to make
discovery, were within the authority granted by the Rules Enabling
Act of June 19, 1934, 28 U.S.C.S. § 723(b), (c).

The Court rejected
petitioner's argument that although Fed. R. Civ. P.
35 and 37 were procedural rules, they affected the
important right to be free from personal invasion and thus improperly
modified a substantive right.

The Court concluded that no invasion of
freedom from personal restraint attached to refusal to comply with
the rules' provisions.

The Court held that the test was whether a
rule really regulated procedure.

The Court held that the district
court erred in adjudging petitioner guilty of contempt because Fed.
R. Civ. P. 37(b)(2)(iv) exempted from punishment by contempt the
refusal to obey an order to submit to a physical or mental
exam.

CONCLUSIONThe Supreme Court reversed the judgment
of the court of appeals that had affirmed the judgment that
petitioner was guilty of contempt when she failed to submit to a
court-ordered physical examination. The Court held that Federal
Rules of Civil Procedure 35 and 37 were procedural
rules, not substantive rules, and thus within the authority granted
by the Rules Enabling Act of June 19, 1934.

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